Birtalan Ágnes: Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century: Philological Studies on the Basis of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna’s Kalmyk Texts.
ETHNOGRAPHICA CALMYCICA
Kalmyk way of life , when Bálint stayed among them in 1871-1872. As mentioned in the Introduction, Bálint's direct experiences of nomadic life were limited; he did not live with the nomads in Yurts nor travel with them. Instead, ,he obtained detailed information on their way of life from the schoolboys and his language tutors or other informants not mentioned in his accounts. Probably, this is the reason his texts do not cover more aspects of Kalmyk nomadism. As with other nomadic Mongolian ethnic groups, the Kalmyks have herded more, usually four (cf. Bálint's data) or five arts of livestock: sheep (xön), horse (mörn), horned cattle (iikr) and camel (temäri). The fifth one - the goat (yamäri) is missing from Bálint.'s records The most comprehensive data concerns sheep breeding, particularly the pasturing, the watering, the milking the shearing, the dropping of young, but there is no reference to such important labours with the livestock as castration, putting on property marks or slaughtering the livestock. The topics of milking the livestock and preparing milk products occupy more than half of the material. These chapters have been translated by Bálint and are included in this volume with some minor corrections. The texts and their translations on milking the livestock incorporated into the Chrestomathy of the Grammar differ only slightly from the texts of the Manuscript with the exception of milking the sheep (Manuscript Xöinä üsürí), as this part of the Grammar is combined with information given in the chapter About how the Kalmyks Pasture their Livestock of the Manuscript. Concerning the Kalmyk terminology , these brief descriptions of the nomadic way of life are very valuable,. All the significant terms will be quoted in the text body and not in footnotes (as was followed in other chapters devoted to various folklore genres). g THE NOMADISING OF THE KALMYKS (Bálint Xal 'imigin nüdiil, Kalm. Xal 'mgin nüdt)' 1 6 m g [147] All our Kalmyks have got a felt tent (Bálint isigä ger, Kalm. isgä ger). The supporting frame" 1 7 ~ for the building of the tent [consists of the following things]: six or eight or ten or twelve lattice walls (Bálint terme, Kalm. term), a roof ring (Bálint xaräci, Kalm. xaräc), sixty, seventy, eighty or ninety rafters (Bálint unin, Kalm. un'n) and a threshold (Bálint erken, Kalm. erkri). The lattice walls are joined to each other. All the joints consist of a rope (Bálint xosolong, Kalm. xoslng) and strap[s] (Bálint, Kalm. biic)\ with these rope and strap[s] are [the lattice walls] bound. The four wall-covering felt pieces (Bálint türya, Kalm. türy), the two roof-covering felt pieces (Bálint déber, Kalm. déwr) and the six edge-covering felt pieces (Bálint irgepci, Kalm. irgwc) have straps. The reason why they have straps is so that they can be bound to the lattice wallfs] when the frame built. In spring when the Kalmyks move from the winter camp (Bálint übülzeng, Kalm. iiwlzng) [to the spring camp], there is an interesting matter. It is caused by the livestock who start to give milk that at that time." 1 8 The newborn lambs, sheep bleat (Bálint malildäd, Kalm. mälxa), the cattle and the calves low (Bálint möreldäd, Kalm. mörxe), the camels bellow (Bálint bulildäd, Kalm. bül'xa), the black soil turns green, and people get tired," 1'' [because] they have had many" 2 0 different livestock with young. When moving from the winter camp, the family head, the wife, the daughters] and son[s] who know [how to do it] and the friends present take apart the tent (Bálint gerän cucadik, Kalm. gerän cucdg). The family head then goes ahead(of the others) to see the base of the tent of the [spring] camp, driving with him cattle, sheep, or horses. If there are not many family members, the wife and the husband load the parts of the tent (Bálint gerän acidik, Kalm. gerän acdg) [on camel]. When this works is done, young people [148] ride horses, whilst the wives sit on the pack-camels (Bálint acita temän, Kalm. actä temäri), smoke ""' Manuscript pp. 147-148. For the contemporary nomadising and pasturing of the five kinds of livestock among the Oirats and Khalkhas, cf. Birtalan. Ágnes: Nomadism, migration, moving, changing campsites ( nüdel , mix, nutag selgex) and Birtalan, Ágnes: Five kinds of livestock (tawan xosü mat) and pertinent activities (mat mallaga). In: Material Culture. (DVD). 111 7 Bálint döngnödök, Kalm. döngnxe "stützen, unterstützen, etwas tragen" (R. 99), döngnx "operet'sja, upirat'sja" (Mun 210). 111 8 Bálint mat ekelji sime gekülegsen, the above translation is only approximate, the expression needs further investigation. "" Bálint kümün uyadaxu mete, Kalm. kiimn uydx met. lit. "people seem to be tired". 112 0 Bálint äbiri is an obscure word that needs further investigation Cf. Kalm. ärwn (?) "many". 153
